Should Animated Shows and Films Have Longer Runtimes?

[Winter]

When I was around 20-ish years old I had a thought about an animated series I wanted to make and at the time I thought that longer runtimes equaled to better stories. A big factor in this was The Dark Knight and other films that were being released at the time that had longer then normal runtimes and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Over the years though I've come to realize that longer runtime does not a good story make and that really the best length for a film or show really boils down to what the film is trying to accomplish. Intersteller, for example, runs in at about 2 hours and 40 minutes (not counting credits) and it really doesn't need to be that long. This film could have easily been trimmed down to 2 hours or 1 hour and 40 minutes and it would have been better for it.

By contrast Raya and the Last Dragon would have benefited greatly with a longer runtime as unlike other recent Disney films the supporting characters are important to the themes of the films so cutting any of them would have been a mistake. And the funny thing is Raya and the Last Dragon is Disney's Second longest animated film with a runtime about 1 hour and 34 minutes long without credits while the longest Animated film in the company being Fantasia which is 2 hours long.

But the idea of animated shows having longer runtimes has never left me and Arcane showed that it can work and the longer runtime did help with the story though as season 2 proved even a show that's 7 hours and 30 minutes even that can fall short. And on the film side of things we have The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim which runs at about 2 hours and 6 minutes long.

One thing in mind with films is, generally speaking, you want each act to run in at a certain amount of time. A film that is about 1 hour and 30 minutes each act will be about half and hour long while a film that runs at 2 hours 1 act will be about 1 hour long while the other two will be about half and hour long and so on.

Now I don't think that every animated show should be like 40+ minutes long or that every animated film should be a 3 hour monstrosity but there are times when I think that an extended runtime would benefit a show or film.

In recent years networks and streaming serves have been giving shows fewer episodes per-season with several series getting, at most, 10 episodes and sometimes not even that much. This wouldn't be to bad, if not for the fact that most of these shows have way to many characters so the shorter runtime hurts the series.

I've mentioned before that I think The Legend of Korra would have benefited greatly by cutting out a few characters, most notably Mako and Bolin, I also think that reducing the role of or removing altogether Wu, Bumi, Kai, Meelo, Unalaq and even fan favorites like Varrick and Zhu Li would have only benefited the show. But many of you argued that the reverse is true, that the number of characters wasn't the problem but that the show needed more episodes aka a longer runtime.

The one thing we all agree on is that TLOK is rushed and doesn't have the time it needs to flesh out it's ideas or characters.

Now, let's say that each season of Korra had the same number of episodes BUT each one was about 40, 45 or 50 minutes long (with the finale episodes of each season being a bit longer, say about 90 minutes). That means that Season 1 of Korra might have the time it needs to flesh out all the characters and plot points. However, if my argument is true, that it's the number of the characters that's the issue and not the runtime that means we have 9 extra hours of the Korra, Asami and Mako Love Triangle. The episodes are longer the problems still remain.

Now let's take a look at Anime shows, like here in the states anime has been cutting back on the number of episodes released at a time, with the same overall number of episodes 10 sometimes 12 each one being about 23 minutes long.

Look at Lycoris Recoil that show has a little over 12 episodes and it's fantastic, but that show keeps the focus mainly on the two leads, with Mizuki, Mika and Kurumi all working as support for the heroes and the two main villains only really show up in about half the episodes and most of the rest of the cast barely even get that.

Arcane, however, is an ensemble show as while Vi and Jinx are the main characters it could be argued that their less the main characters and more key plot point characters are there are episodes where they're not even the focus or aren't even in an episode. Vi is almost completely left out of 3 episodes and Prime Jinx is missing for one episode along with her sister.

This show is more about the cast as a whole and not really about any one character. Thus the longer runtime serves the story better.

Recently some animated shows like Steven Universe and Amphibia have done something rather interesting where they technically have 10 minute episodes but aired side by side so it's still reaches the 23 minute mark. These shows are perhaps the best argument as to why you don't need extra long episodes when dealing with a longer cast as both series manage to have full fleshed out characters despite having shorter runtimes then usual. While the shows are still 23 minute long they are 2 different episodes as the focus and plot will switch as soon as we reach the 10 minute mark.

Now I've mentioned this before but one show I want to make is a remake of Batman Beyond. This would be an animated show either in 2D or Painted CGI to make it look as 2D as possible for reasons I've covered before. Now, the show would still focus mainly on Terry and Bruce but unlike the original series other characters get more of a chance to shine here. Terry's rogues are more fleshed out, Ellen Yin gets to be in the spotlight, Carrie becomes Robin, Mary McGinnis is given an extended role.

That's not even mentioning Max, Chelsea, Blade, Duke and Nash all of whom are given extended roles with some of them even being the focus character for a good chunk of an episode. Blade is the most notable in this as she's promoted to Carrie's love interest, learns that Carrie is Robin and even has to save her girlfriend at one point while also having her own character arc and a more fleshed out backstory.

A season with a little over 10 episodes would not work here if I hope to flesh out the rest of the cast WHILE making sure that Terry and Bruce remain the focus AND giving more depth to the villains.

Some characters are easy enough to work around, Powers aka Blight is not that deep or complicated and he doesn't need to be he's just an asshole. By contrast Willie Watt is given more focus as he starts off as Carrie's best friend which leads to a sorta love triangle between him, Carrie and Blade which also ties into Willie's villain arc. But in a show with a shorter run time I might be forced to only focus on the Love Triangle angle but with a longer runtime (and maybe a Robin Beyond Spinoff) I would be able to make that LT just part of the story and see all the factors that lead to the tragic outcome.

So, should animated shows and movies have longer runtimes? I say yes provided that it works with the show's story but if you can tell the same story just as well or better with the standard runtime of both shows and movies then just stick with that.

Animation has changed a lot in recent year with views around the media being taken more seriously and fewer people are seeing as just "for kids". Maybe that's because so many live action films have been using CGI, maybe because tastes have changed or that the generation that grew up with animation are now the ones creating it, reviewing it and producing it so there is more use of it.

Whatever the case, most shows and films are still sticking to the traditional runtime and the question must be asked, should we stick to that runtime or expand on it?

[Thebestoftherest]

I don't know I don't want them to be like look king love action where the length is full of filler.